Around Us

Published 12:00 pm, Tuesday, November 22, 2011

LUBBOCK - A Lubbock police officer has been released from Covenant Medical Center after being involved in a three-vehicle accident Friday at the intersection of Slide Road and 50th Street.

Officer Joshua Gafford was transported by ambulance to the hospital around 6:30 p.m. Friday for treatment of moderate injuries suffered in the accident.

Saturday evening, Sgt. Larry Manale could not confirm the cause of the accident. He said Gafford had been released from the hospital, but he did not know the extent of his injuries, or when the officer would return to work.

Manale said he did not know the identity or condition of the seven others involved in the accident. He forwarded questions to Traffic Investigation office, which was not available for comment over the weekend. - Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

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LEVELLAND - The South Plains College Board of Regents will honor retired academic vice president and former college regent Nathan Tubb on Jan. 5 with a dedication ceremony naming the college's new student residence dormatory Nathan Tubb Hall.

The dedication ceremony and open house will begin at 3 p.m. at the site of the new facility at J.V. Morton and South College Avenue. A reception and tours of the facility will follow.

Dean Tubb served as the college's first registrar and academic dean, and later as academic vice president. He retired from the college in 1981, but returned as a member of the South Plains College Board of Regents in 1988.

Nathan Tubb Hall is a two-story 104-bed residence hall that features a central common area with additional common areas located on each floor of the two wings. The new residence hall will house women in its first year of operation, although it is designed for co-educational living.

The last residence hall complex built on the Levelland campus was in 1981 with the completion of the Smallwood Apartments. - Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

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DALLAS - Lubbock Estacado High School junior Quinton Smith died unexpectedly on Saturday while in Dallas for a national chess tournament.

Smith was a member of the chess team, tennis team, Mock Trial, Law Skills USA and active in other school events. A participant in Estacado High School choir and drama activities, Smith had just completed a major role in the recent EHS musical production, "Seussical Jr."

Donations are being accepted at PlainsCapital Bank for the Quinton Smith Memorial Fund to help with burial expenses.

AMARILLO - The Texas Medical Board has ordered two Amarillo doctors, including the former health authority for Potter and Randall counties, to take medical exams and continuing education classes in separate disciplinary cases, according to records.

On Nov. 4, the board ordered Dr. Todd Edward Bell, 37, the former health authority, to pass a Medical Jurisprudence Exam given by the board, participate in 16 hours of continuing medical education and pay $3,000 for violations.

Bell was a supervising physician for Advanced Practice Nurses at the Stratford Family Medical Clinic when he provided a nurse with pre-signed prescription pads for controlled substances, according to the state medical board's order.

Prosecutors accused the nurse, Warden Lamar Palmer, of using his position to obtain sedatives illegally for personal use. Palmer was sentenced to one year in prison in April.

Bell resigned from his jobs at the Stratford clinic and with the counties last year.

"The board order kind of speaks for itself," Bell said Friday.

The board also cited Dr. Robert Warren Paige, 65, an anesthesiologist, for an October 2009 agreement in which he pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of misprision of a felony, according to the board order.

Paige concealed and sold four antique classic cars valued about $648,500 during a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing in 2006, the federal plea agreement said. A judge sentenced him to three years probation and ordered him to pay an $80,000 fine, according to court records.

Paige must pass the Medical Jurisprudence Exam and complete 12 hours of medical education classes, the order states.

The state medical board noted his felony guilty plea, but said he "demonstrated a compelling public interest" in maintaining his medical license, especially because he is one of four physicians in his specialty in the Amarillo area.

State law requires the board to revoke the medical license or consider probation of any physician who is convicted of a felony. - Amarillo Globe-News